I spoke to BBS a while back they stated that none of their 17" work with our brakes, their 18"LM wheel clears the caliper, the 18" RF clears by 1mm (not enough to be safe). Give them a call maybe something changed, they were very helpful/easy to talk to.

 

My JCW came with 17” wheels and I have 2 other aftermarket 17” wheels that fit over the JCW calipers with no issues in the radial direction. The barrel part of a 17” wheel should have no issues clearing the calipers. I have one set that is a little tight and I can’t have weights in that area. The big issue for wheels to fit the JCW brakes is the spokes of the wheels hitting the calipers. Because you are will to fix that with spacers, that should not be an issue. From the looks of the BBS wheels, I would think they would fit without spacers. BTW the 45 ET is a good offset for these cars.

I had a similar issue with some Sparco wheels I bought. I found some stick-on JCW centers on EBay that I covered the caps with. Maybe you could find some MINI ones to stick on over the TD ones....

 

how flush is 45 offset? I don't want a ton of poke but I don't mind some, especially if it will help me clear the calipers.

 

thank you, the problem with the TD rim centers is that they protrude a lot and I want some blueprints like the MINI originals. I can't find anything that fits.

 

Check pictures of my JCW with a couple of different wheels (link)
These are pictures the stock ET 54 wheels compared to the NM ET40 wheels. Also note that in the posted pictures, the NM wheels have 225-45x17 tires vs the stock 205 tires.

Here is a link and another link to pictures of the Sparco wheels with ET 48 on the JCW. The tires are 215-45x17s. These are really tight both radially and to the spokes. The problem with the wheel weights are the loops on the brake pads that stick out beyond the caliper (see picture in the second link). In the front I run a 3mm spacer, which gives me about 5mm clearance with the spokes and a combined ET of 45. I could probably get away with no spacer, but don’t want to risk having the spokes hitting the caliper with any wheel flex when out on the track.

Hope this helps...

 

Thanks for the help and suggestions! I called BBS and they said the XRs with a 5mm spacer will clear the calipers by 3mm. So a 40 offset, which doesn't appear to have any poke in Eddies photos. I'll probably look at like a 7.5mm spacer to make me a little more comfortable which would give me a tiny poke once I upgrade brakes.

 

I'm pretty sure those XRs use the PFS center bore system. I think BBS only makes 5mm and 10mm PFS spacers, but not 7.5mm.

 

Thanks for the heads up, maybe I should just look at getting them in et35 then instead of 45

 

I have 17" BBS RFs with an ET45 and with the 5mm spacers I have 3.5mm of clearance. For reference, Brembo recommends a minimum of 3mm clearance.

 

With ET 35 you will likely find that there is not enough clearance in the rear for the tires to not rub on the wheel well liner and the arch material. At least that is what I would predict with a 215 tire. The 225 tires I had on the ET40 NM wheels I have did rub. It might clear with a 205 tire. In the front, I am not sure. If you are not concerned about the tire rubbing and wearing out the plastic stuff, it might work.

 

what is your rear camber at? I'm at -2 with a 1.2inch drop I believe. I was going to try and squeeze 225s in, so it sounds like I better stick with the 45 and 5mm spacer. 3mm of clearance should be fine for street driving, but i don't even have to worry about that right now.

Edit: I don't recall Charlie complaining about rubbing with his 225s or Darby before he did his fender work.

 

My camber is about the same, -2 deg in the rear.

Charlie has ET45 wheels on is car with the 225 tires, and, yes, they rub to the point the plastic liner is worn away, but there is no evidence that the tire is touching metal. I have seen this. If you move the wheel outward with ET 35 wheels, or just slightly less than 1/2” further out, you will likely be hitting metal. I say “likely” as I don’t have exact measurements or experience. But there is little room between the plastic and metal in that area.

Another issue is suspension flex in the bushings. With my ET48 Sparco wheels and 215 tires I had no rubbing when driving on the street. However, the g-loading the car experiences out on the track has been enough to flex the suspension to cause rubbing. That rubbing is about the same as what I saw on Charlies’s car... I would estimate that if I had ET 45 wheels with 225 tires, as Charlie has, and then put in 10mm spacers that the tire would be in line with the metal body lip, which would cut the tire... Not a good idea for the track...

Take a look at this post (link) of what I found on my JCW with the ET40 wheels after a couple of days on the track.

 

So it sounds like with the XRs I'll have to use the 5mm spacer and just run 215s which is not what I wanted but it's fine. Or move on to some 18s that I like that won't have an issue with the jcw brakes in et45 to run 225s. I wonder if the willwood kit has the same issues as the jcw.

 

I know I have been a bit negative with my info, but I wanted to let you know my experiences. That way you can best decide how to proceed.

That said, here is a bit of a positive spin on all of this...

My ET 40 NM wheels with the 225 did rub a bit on the plastic wheel well liner on the street. I knew if that was happening on the street, then on the track I knew there was a strong likelyhood of having much worse rubbing and potentially be rubbing on metal. That is why I switched wheels and tires. If I was going to be driving just on the street, I might have been able to tolerate the rubbing on the plastic. Eventually, that would have “trimmed” the liner enough so the tires would no longer rub.

Charlie, with the ET 45 wheels and 225 tires races (autocrosses) his JCW, so he is seeing g-loading similar to what I see out on the track. So, his experience is also more pronounced than what someone just driving on the street would experience.

You indicated that the setup you want to do would be for the street. Yes? Then the possibility exists that you could try the ET45 wheels with the 5mm spacer and the 225 tires. This would be with the knowledge that the tires may rub a bit on the plastic and might wear a hole through the liner. IMHO - If it doesn’t hit metal, then live with the hole in the plastic. I doubt they will be rubbing on metal.

Just something to think about before giving up on what you want...

If you go that route, just keep an eye on what it happening for a while.

 

No worries, that's why I asked the question. I'll probably go with the 215s and and then decide on the 225s next time around. 215 vs 225 isn't that big of a deal, I just wanted the wider tire as I do hit up autox sometimes. Although not too often as I don't really like the locations my local club currently uses.

 

Sounds like a plan...

 

Actually, one more, the rubbing you experienced only on the rear? If so, is there a reason I can't just run the 5mm spacer upfront, less than a quarter of an inch difference in wheel spacing won't visually be noticable.

 

Yes, only in the rear.

I run 3mm spacers just up front with Sparco wheels. That gives me about 5mm clearance with the calipers. So, yes you could just run the 5mm up front.

Good thought...

Then in the rear you would have the same spacing in the rear as Charlie has, who is running 225 tires.

 

I got them installed with 225/45 Indy 500s. I don't think I will be having any issues on the street. Car feels so much more planted on these vs the 205s I had on the stock 16s. I still need to go find a parking lot I can drive like a moron in to see if I rub under hard load. Front honestly look closer to rubbing then the rears for me. I'd post pics but everytine the upload gets to 50% it stops and gives me an alert.

 

Mind change?

Good you are liking it.

Also, find a good size whoop-de-do or speed bump, something that will really compress the suspension to check out rubbing. I had no or maybe a tiny bit of rubbing up front. It was the inside of the wheel arch in the rear that you will likely see any rubbing and it should be minor. I think Charlie’s was the same way.

 

Yeah since it was the rear that seemed to be the main problem and it only seemed a minor issue at this offset I went with the 225s. Had them do some test fits first though to be sure. You both are running the pro suspension if I remember correctly; I wonder how my spring rates stack up to the JCW ones. I got on it pretty good on a few on ramps but no rubbing yet. The speed bumps are a good idea to try too.

 

Got it too work.

BBS XRs platinum silver
17x7.5
​​​45 offset

225/45 Indy 500s

 

Looks good.

I like those wheels.

 

Hey guys, I found myself in a bit rough spot, I ordered a set of wheels in not exactly the size I needed. I was planning to get 18x8 wheels for my F56 (fully stock) and by a mistake got bbs with the wrong ET - ET37. Since I cannot return them I'd like to ask you before I try to sell or get tyres for them, is there any chance for those to fit (and if someone tried something similar). I've seen mixed opinions regarding such setup, but most were considering modified suspensi, arches, or jcw brakes.


cheers

 

Hey first post!

Welcome to NAM!

What offset did you want to get? What size tires were you thinking of using?

Unfortunately, most of us are running 17” wheels. On an otherwise stock car 17”x7.5” wide wheels with ET 40 and 225 wide tires will rub on the plastic inside the rear wheel wells. Not exactly sure how much more rubbing you would get with a 225 tire on 18”x8” with 3mm more offset to the outside. It will be tight for sure and the 37mm alone will cause even more rubbing than what I have seen with ET40. The metal fender lip is getting close with that. I would lean towards this not being a good fit.